by MaTT De Vlieger, Facilitator, Ceasefire Action Committee, Berlin, & Former UFPJ Coordinator
Something very bad is happening socially and politically in Germany. Something that feels both old and new to me, after 20 years in the peace movement. (My first national demo was Feb. 15, 2003 in NYC, hosted by UFPJ). Somehow, since then, I had forgotten what it was like to be called a “terrorist supporter” for condemning a policy of militarized mass-murder. And being labeled an “anti-Semite” by Germans, particularly as a Jew, is a first for me.
What’s happening in Germany is difficult to explain and is logically strenuous to wrap one’s head around– even for me, after having spent some years living in Berlin, also amongst Germans.
Plain and simple: today, the peace movement, those who favor peace in Palestine, who use the words “apartheid”, “occupation”, “ethnic cleansing”, “genocide”, and even “ceasefire”, are under full-institutional assault. It’s worth mentioning the hypocrisy, if we mentioned any of these words, maybe save for “ceasefire” in the context of the Ruso-Ukrainian war, we’d probably be applauded.
After October 7, the German Parliament met to declare the country’s total, “unconditional support” for Israel— all parties, right and left, from nationalist extremists, to the Greens, and The Left… all of them. Along with this gesture, they voted unanimously to waive the German Constitution and the right to political organization and assembly by prohibiting all pro-Palestinian demonstrations and public displays for a period of time, erroneously citing a threat anti-Semitism.
This only made me want to enter the streets and masses even more. And I did, with a notepad and a pen, to organize.
As I learned upon attending the first mass demo for Palestine, even “allowed” protests would be canceled by authorities shortly after their start time or promptly before, following brutalization of the crowds the heavily armored and readily armed Polizie, in full military formation, often with makeshift booking stations set up around the corner to facilitate mass arrests. The alleged “German efficiency” does show its face in certain areas.
Coming Out as a Jew in Germany, and to You
I may not have revealed to you in the past that I was raised Jewish, so therefore, I am Jewish. My relatives are Jewish. I have to assume from what I’ve learned from my family and from history, that our near ancestors escaped Europe between the world wars because being Jewish made it difficult to live there, in a literal sense. It’s because of these decisive moves by my relatives that I sit here writing to you today.
Why is this important? Well, living in Germany, it’s difficult not to regularly think about “the past”, with reminders on nearly every corner of my neighborhood and the greater city. In the past year or so, without any real intent, I started wearing a Jewish star on a necklace. I saw it in a jewelry store in Mexico, it reminded me of my Mother, my Grandmother, my Grandfather and the warmth of being together on the holidays which, I will never have the pleasure of experiencing again. So, I bought it, and still wear it and it makes me feel connected to them, as that stuff does.
I hadn’t considered taking it off until Israel’s recent assault, which carries this emblem. I held some concern over what others my neighbors would think, and I will not be associated with that slaughter.
From Peaceful Protest to Eins, Zwei, Polizei
On October 15, at the first protest I attended at Potsdamer Platz, while wearing my silver star around my neck, instead of finding any signs of anger or distrust from my Muslim and Arab neighbors, was greeted with hugs and comments of solidarity thanking me for my presence there. “We are brothers.” “We are friends, not enemies.” “Thank you.” And the one that really got me and still puts tears in my eyes, “Don’t worry, we will all protect you.”
I was so embarrassed to receive this vocal attention and signals appreciation, because all I did was show up with a sign, and I wasn’t Muslim, and I wasn’t Middle Eastern. From then, until now, all I have found for this community has been sincerity, goodwill, solidarity, serious organizing and compassion, almost infinite compassion, and empathy.
Then, following this moment of community and warmth and healing, came the planned assault on the peaceful demonstration in the form of a brutal physical assault on peaceful protestors. I was not one of the first to be arrested. The police began targeting those with Palestinian flags and scarves. One-by-one, they entered our crowd in groups of a dozen or more, dressed like stormtroopers, to silence us by force.
Targets of the Israel Aligned German Ruling Institutions
There are several areas where I can break down how the German government is failing to protect its citizens and its targeting critical viewpoints and political activity in an attempt to cover its dark history and for the institutions to distance themselves from the anti-semitism and racism and within authoritarian overreach that exists within the German system.
Germany’s Assault on Palestinian, Arab, and Middle Eastern Diaspora
The first is one of the most targeted communities, by nature, the Palestinian diaspora which is greatest in Germany out of all Europe particularly in the area which I live in Berlin. This extends to Muslims Arabs and many people seeking Asylum or who have either recently gained Asylum as a result of regional instability particularly due to Western Wars. These communities came together immediately to mourn the loss of life many of them having family members in the dozens who have died at this point as a result of the genocide in Gaza.
Today, their communities are patrolled constantly and people of all ages, including women, and children are being arrested just on suspicion of being pro-Palestinian. They’re being arrested for wearing kefias or for showing sympathy for Palestine. Having seen this happen before my own eyes I simply could not believe it. Their protests have been shut down, and as of the past few weeks there have been targeted raids on the homes of political organizers and offices of the organizations and community centers that support them. Arrests since October are well into the hundreds.
Germany’s Assault on Living Jews Who Do Not Fit the German Ideal of Complicity
Second, are Jews critical of Israel living in Berlin and Germany. In the early days after October 7th jews holding signs against the war including myself were attacked and arrested even while standing peacefully and alone in a Public Square. Members of the Jüdische Stimme which is the German equivalent to Jewish voice for peace have been targeted. And they have been deemed anti-Semitic support for Palestine.
That’s right: Jews are being deemed anti-Semitic by Germans for mourning the loss of lives and demanding a ceasefire in Palestine. This includes expatriates of Israel, Jewish artists who have had their work removed from exhibitions and events canceled, and even the children of Holocaust Survivors. I was arrested after giving a speech at a rally where I was invited by Palestinians for making comparisons to the early warnings of the holocausts, the things that we were taught to look for every week growing up in Hebrew school.
Apparently in Germany it is illegal to make these connections. After giving my speech I was surrounded by armored police who demanded to know who I was and where I lived. I had to explain to them that as a Jew who had been beaten by police twice in the week’s prior and arrested once already how uncomfortable and this time actually afraid to be taken away by them and to have them know my home address after the wings smirks and subtle threats that they gave me over the previous two weeks. It might be worth mentioning that even Bernie Sanders had an event canceled for his book tour because he was deemed to pro-Palestinian. The censorship and attacks on Jews has only grown in recent weeks.
There’s nothing about this movement that is anti-semitic and there’s nothing about this movement that is threatening jewish people. Everything that we are doing, everything, has organically come directly from the work of Palestinians working with Jews especially in an effort to encourage the German population who has been completely silent to stand up in our favor. We will not allow the German government to call our Arab and Muslim brothers and sisters and Neighbors the new anti-semites when we know very well that the real threat of anti-semitism in Germany lies within its own institutions and the growing extreme-right who are gaining political power throughout the country. Of course of the few Germans who do stand up for justice and peace for Palestine, namely students’ voices have been the loudest, and therefore they have been grouped with the most threatened.
Assault on Cultural Institutions
Finally, cultural institutions that support ceasefire peace and anything other than Germany’s unconditional total support for the military attacks on Palestine have been threatened not only by the media but precisely by politicians. These threats have come into action through total defunding of cultural centers and institutions that are important to our communities. Politicians and political groups have famed the cause of anti-semitism to prevent speaking engagements seminars lectures art shows and events of anyone who’s been found to be critical of Israel. This means going back and looking at people’s social media posts for the past 10 years or more. It also means the total censorship of critical Jews and the institutes that support them within Germany.
The best example of this was when Oyoun, a cultural center in the middle of my neighborhood, Neukolln, with the probably the highest density of Palestinians living in Europe, a member of the Berlin Senate led a campaign to completely defund The Institute by the end of the year. Why? Because they refused to cancel an event I was scheduled for the Jewish voices 20th anniversary event. An event that was planned prior to October 7th, and which after October 7th was transformed into a memorial and place a morning and acknowledgment for the situation that was going on in Gaza at that moment. Because of the institution and organizations bravery they were completely defunded and they will have to close by the end of the year.
This is a form of censorship and institutional alignment intended to break up our movement and to silence other organizations and community organizations based in Germany that may speak out in favor of our work and against the crimes of Israel. Has become the example: If we don’t like you we’ll get rid of you.
Germany’s Assault on Student Peace Organizers
Organized students have also come under attack. They’ve been threatened with suspension expulsion and the inability to finish their degrees for hosting events and holding Administration leadership accountable for their silence on the genocide in Gaza. Like the rest of us, students demanding ceasefire have been called anti-Semitic and have been blamed for making Jewish students “feel threatened.” Again, none of the actions, statements, and none of the organizing is against Jews, but is instead against Germany’s support of Israel’s crimes– something the German dominant politic is refusing to comprehend.
Over the last two weeks, dozens of armored police have entered Universities to forcibly halt student-led peace activities. In Germany, on the whole, this has been seen as a “good thing¨, after all, they are stopping “Jew hate”, as the papers call it.
Threats and Assault on Migrants, Refugees, and Asylees
That same message has been echoed to Immigrant communities and Asylum Seekers. After the opinion piece by the recently deceased Henry Kissinger recommending that Germany would have to begin deportations of people carrying invasive ideologies that go counter to the German cultural core, herr Chancellor Olaf Schultz´s not so subtle warning that mass deportations would be on the way, especially to those critical of Israel. Groups within the German Parliament have also begun formulating laws and rules that would make support of Israel a requirement for naturalization and any signs of criticism of Israel and its quote right to exist unquote could be used to deny citizenship to those seeking it in Germany. Well these acts may seem performative and they are, they’re quite dangerous and have had a major chilling effect throughout the country and have had a real effect on our community. People who have been arrested for participating in protests may not be able to stay.
German Press’s Total Vilification of Peace Activism
And what does the German media have to say? They’re completely aligned with the German government, the authorities, and they’ve done nothing but malign peaceful protesters and organizers and affected communities and their daily reporting since October 7th. This is not just the right wing axel Springer media, this is the whole damn thing. After attending some of the protests I read that I a Jewish person living in Germany, was part of events that were the nightmares of Jews living in Germany. That Palestinians had brought baby carriages to protests and demonstrations “to use as human shields.” The papers even reported that the police were doing a good job of showing prudence in the name of justice, as they were “only targeting political leaders.” Everything about this philosophically is wrong. All of it is completely frustrating. And we have very little hope of making change in this area from within. We’ve seen very little result toward changing German media or minds, and moving them to our favor.
Strategic Address of External Mechanisms for Accountability
We are fighting two simultaneous battles, one against the political repression in Germany and two for a German call for ceasefire, a test that right now seems nearly impossible, but one that we are taking strategic steps towards achieving out of the dire necessity. We are also waging an inside-outside strategy as UFPJ traditionally has.
Recently, our best mechanism for moving our message forward and for challenging the proactive authoritarianism of the German political and social system has been the international press. Thankfully, finally, some of these stories are now making it into some of the mainstream International press. It’s about time, it’s already gone too far.
Letter to the UN’s OHCHR
Earlier this month on December 1st well at the United Nations for the meeting of State parties on the treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons, I was able to deliver a letter to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at their office on the 31st floor and to speak with a representative, a human rights officer, about 1 the political repression that’s happening today in Germany, and the specific groups that it has been targeting, and the violation of Human Rights, two that until we have these problem solved and our communities protected with the help of the International Community and human rights Observers, we cannot fully engage in political Behavior or whole political space to even honestly demand a ceasefire.
Our letter was signed by 13 organizations and movement leaders including the one outspoken voice within the Berlin Senate, a member from Neukolln of Muslim origin, who has been has been the only one brave enough to speak publicly and support of the attacks on Palestinians and Jews in Germany–the only one I know of, at least.
The letter was delivered to several offices including the office of migration and will be seeking special repertoires to investigate and challenge the ongoing brutality of the German government today.
“How Soon is Now?” or “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”]
Just as we are begged to ask by the lessons of the Holocaust, “When is the right time to act?” as an “other” in Germany, many of us are also asking ourselves, “When would be an appropriate time to leave?”
At this point, some of us are unsure how we can continue to live in Germany if this is how quickly everything becomes stacked against us. It’s almost overbearing to think about. At moments the fear I felt, actual fear that the authorities may do something to me, come to my home, may break into my mailbox, and that they’re probably spying on me right now, for one of the first times after events we’re going two events I was afraid. For me, I suspect it would be easier to leave than for others, for obvious reasons, if I absolutely had to.
Silver Lining
So are there any silver linings? Yes, I have to say that there are. When I look at the crowds the Palestinian Muslim Arabs families mothers and children standing alongside Jews and hopefully increasingly Germans I see a lot of Hope but most of all I see a lot of courage and I’m inspired by their bravery, stand a lot more to lose than I do. Even a German friend said to me as we passed one of the near daily marches across the city, “They are a lot more peaceful than the newspapers make them out to be.” I guess that’s a good thing– a sign of learning?
I also see a lot of solidarity in general between gay, trans, queer, community, feminists, broader decolonization activism, and the communities I already mentioned, and really what I find to be the best element of Berlin, the international people. We’re finding our big family. For me I’ve always wanted to have a more political life in Germany and found it difficult to engage in German organizations particularly because of German culture. Now, through crisis and common struggle, I’m finally finding my people.
From the Bottom, Up
In the first weeks after the attack on Gaza, I met another Jewish-American living in Germany and together we started holding strategic planning meetings and action discussions as workshops and trainings to fill a perceived need in the community. While Berlin has been increasingly great at pulling out large numbers of people on a seemingly daily basis, we need to go back to the classical tools of organizing: campaigning, lobbying, coalition building, and intentional movement-building so that we could push forth strategic plan to achieve our goals.
Our meetings are met with a lot of interest, and excitement, and today, our small collective has about 40 people and maybe a dozen active leaders working in various working groups based around issue area or strategic need. We’re specializing in solidarity, support, coalition building, capacity building for our local movement, an increasingly making connections to Germany, europe, and to you our allies across the Atlantic. We’re calling ourselves the Ceasefire Action Committee, and we hope to scale our scope and reach, according to need in the new year.
Another sign of hope I see is in the solidarity that came for those under attack like Oyoun which I mentioned earlier. Within just a number of days, they were able to raise over 80,000 euros to support their efforts for the time being. Also their bravery and standing up for us critical Jews has been encouraging. Personally I’ve been encouraged to find other like-minded, international people, to have the ability to work alongside and passion artists, critical thinkers, inspiring people, and a new palestinian family. Really, we all know that we’re in this together. There’s no blaming. There is however a common vision for the future one we’re a free Palestine exists and where Israel can do no more crime against the Palestinian people. We’re extermination is not even a question. We talk about what it was like and what it will be like when people of all faiths and beliefs can live together again on this demilitarized land.
Are there things that you can do to help? Absolutely.
- Get Our Story in the Press.
If you or anyone you know is a member of the international press who may give an impartial View and Report on the situation that I have laid out, speaking directly to the people who have been impacted, I would like to put these people in touch and get their message out. When the world knows what Germany is doing, germany can no longer Act without impunity. I have also been told by politicians that they need the cover of international press before they can speak out because it gives them certain level of credibility that does not exist right now in the current vacuum. So, this help would be real and it could start with our own anti-war and progressive-left press and bleed its way into the mainstream and back to Germany.
- Connect Us to Human Rights Defenders
If you know anyone or have direct contacts with organizations within the United Nations or impartial human rights organizations who can act to restore political rights and to hold Germany accountable please reach out to them now please put them in touch with us. At this point we’ve got no traction on the letter that we dropped off on the 1st of December and we’ve gotten very limited response to our Outreach to local offices of the UN and other ngos. I expect they will start to turn in our favor soon, but right now it’s been difficult to get their attention. We need external parties to force Germany to uphold not only international human rights law, but also European law, and their own damn Constitution.
- Show Solidarity to Our Threatened Institutions
You can donate to Oyoun to support their work and show a symbol of international solidarity. It doesn’t just mean something to them it means something to all of us. This is become a focal point. And we do not want to lose them. Once they’re gone, it shows that the other side can win. A brutal side that will only grow if not stunted.
- Create Awareness Amongst Your Groups and in Your Area
Please share this awareness with your groups. If you’re looking for spokespeople or someone to talk in a meeting, or to inform you about what the day-to-day right now in Germany what the real and potential threats were facing are as an anti-war movement in favor of justice for Palestine, please reach out to me. We have so many courageous intelligent inspiring voices who are doing this work and who deserve to be heard. I can assure you that your time will not be wasted by listening to their stories, and I did a identifying ways in which you can work together.
- Keep up with the Berlin-based Ceasefire Action Committee
You can find our group and message us directly on Instagram at @ceasefireactioncommittee. This is where we post public events and campaign announcements.
Looking Ahead
The situation we face today is extremely, incredibly grim, overwhelming and even discouraging. The thing that keeps me and likely others going is the work– this organizing; watching new leaders grow, observing activists become organizers, organizers creating organizations, and those organizations coming together in coalition as we have done on so many issues with UFPJ.
I believe that this moment has reawakened our movement in a way that we couldn’t have imagined and sadly somehow through the death and destruction there will be greater more provocative more intentional and strategic cries for justice that will one day have to be implemented by the world. The people working on Palestine, today, are not blind to the other armed conflicts of the world, nor are they ignorant to the industrialized forces that cause them. They are becoming emboldened in the face of resistance and will continue to fight for peace in Palestine, then the world. A new generation of leaders entering our movement. As our recently departed friend and UFPJ leader George Martin would say: “Greetings Family!”
Personally, I feel that if there were ever a reason for me to be Jewish, in this life, this is it. I will continue to apply the things that you and many others have empowered me and enabled me to learn through our long and righteous struggle.
One of my concerns is that the effectively chilling German tactics could spread to other “liberal democracies”- think NATO countries- and wreak havoc on other progressive movements and activists. I implore you to remain vigilant. We can’t allow that to happen!
As my newest movement relative, Salah Said said at an event hosted by Jews and Palestinians: “They cannot divide us”. This is not an empty chant. At this moment, it comes with a true sincerity and speaks to the spiritual core of our unity in resistance that is forged out of love. Our diversity makes us stronger. This is the code we’re living by. Just yesterday the Polizei showed up to Salah’s door. He will not be intimidated. We will stand together and protect each other.
Finally, I’ll share with you a repeated slogan that fits this case, despite the coldness of the high-and-mighty Germans who may scoff at it: “Free Palestine from German Guilt!”
